11/28/2011 - San Antonio, Texas -- The Air Force has finalized a unique lease agreement with Kettering Medical Center that saves the Air Force money while providing Airmen and civilians treatment at a state-of-the-art hyperbaric chamber facility at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.

Under the five-year Enhanced Use Lease agreement, Kettering Medical Center will establish a hyperbaric oxygen and wound care center operating one of the largest hyperbaric chambers in the US. In exchange, the Air Force will receive quarterly cash lease payments plus free treatments at the facility for DoD eligible beneficiaries, and the training of Air Force Residents in Aerospace Medicine at the facility.

Ms. Kathleen I. Ferguson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, approved the lease, lauding the agreement as one that "provides cost savings directly to DoD personnel, while simultaneously allowing top private industry experts to provide world-class care to airmen and civilians alike."

The project is the latest in a growing portfolio of Air Force projects developed through the EUL program. The Air Force Real Property Agency has executed an Agreement to Lease with leading global energy developer Fotowatio Renewable Ventures to create a utility-scale photovoltaic solar array at Edwards AFB, CA, and is pursuing a portfolio of possible energy-based and commercial projects at multiple installations.

The EUL program is a major part of AFRPA's mission to manage, acquire and dispose of Air Force real property worldwide. To date, the agency has more than 10 EUL projects in various stages of development at bases throughout the United States and its territories.